DELRAY BEACH, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 25, 2007--Office Depot (NYSE:ODP), a leading global provider of office products and services, today announced further achievements in the area of environmental sustainability and performance. The Company will both build and open its first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)-certified retail store in Austin, Texas in mid-2008. The LEED Green Building Rating System(TM) is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings.

Simultaneously, Office Depot continues to refine its master set of drawings and specifications that comprise its store prototype and will investigate having the format LEED-certified as well. Office Depot has already piloted the green building design concept of "daylight harvesting" in its Greensboro, NC store. This concept removes, on average, 250,000 lbs of carbon and greenhouse gases from the environment each year through high-performance daylighting.

Office Depot is already a leader in the area of green construction, having achieved the following during 2006:

* Saved nearly 66 million kWh of electricity due to energy efficiency and conservation efforts in North American warehouses and stores; * Avoided approximately $6.2 million in electricity costs due to energy efficiency and conservation efforts in North American facilities; * Dramatically reduced Absolute Greenhouse Gas emissions by 10.1% across N.A. buildings; * Retrofitted nearly entire store chain (1,186 stores in North American) to T5 high-output lighting; and * Rolled out an energy management system upgrade to the majority of stores in an effort to track usage and trends in one central location.

"Office Depot has successfully implemented a number of environmental construction initiatives over the past few years," said Edward Costa, Vice President of Construction for Office Depot. "We see both our membership in the U.S. Green Building Council and our long-term strategy of having a retail store prototype LEED-certified as examples of Office Depot's environmental vision to increasingly buy green, be green and sell green."

Office Depot provides more office products and services to more customers in more countries than any other company.

Incorporated in 1986 and headquartered in Delray Beach, Fla., Office Depot has annual sales of over $15.4 billion, and employs approximately 52,000 associates around the world. Currently, the Company sells to customers directly or through affiliates in 43 countries.

Office Depot is a leader in every distribution channel -- from retail stores and contract delivery to catalogs and e-commerce. As of June 30, 2007, Office Depot had 1,186 retail stores in North America and another 369 stores, either company-owned, licensed or franchised, in other parts of the world. Office Depot serves a wide range of customers through a dedicated sales force, telephone account managers, direct mail offerings, and multiple web sites. With $4.7 billion in online sales during the last twelve months, the Company is also one of the world's largest e-commerce retailers.